The Optimist: Meditations on Medicine

The familiar musings of Howard Spiro extol the humanitarian spirit in life and medicine, even as new technologies dominate. These 45 essays, published in Science & Medicine from 1994 to 2003, are collected together in a handsome volume. Dr. Spiro's essays examine the state of medicine, society, education, patients, technology, practice, and eating (he's a gastroenterologist!), incorporating allusions to history, philosophy, and literature and flavored with flashes of Dr. Spiro's noted wit.